North Korea's Kim opens museum with Hwasong-20 ICBM as Trump floats summit
Kim Jong Un opened a Defence Revolution Museum displaying the Hwasong-20 intercontinental missile, which Reuters describes as capable of reaching the United States. The same week, Donald Trump said he may meet Kim during a planned Asia trip in November.
A museum of weapons
Kim Jong Un attended the opening of the Defence Revolution Museum on Sunday, 11 October, accompanied by his daughter and his wife, according to the state news agency KCNA, which published photographs on Tuesday, 13 October. The museum presents missiles, drones and other weapons developed under Kim's leadership, and its size and exact location have not been disclosed. KCNA photographs show a hall of intercontinental ballistic missiles that includes the solid-fuel Hwasong-20 and the liquid-fuel Hwasong-17. Other halls contain submarine-launched ballistic missiles, large combat and reconnaissance drones, small suicide drones, cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles, naval systems, tanks, multiple rocket launchers and light weapons. Kim said the museum's scale and content would be expanded and enriched, and that powerful weapons would be developed and perfected in the future.
Expert reading of the Hwasong-20 display
A display in front of the Hwasong-20 launcher appears to show a multiple warhead design, and a world map on it depicts ranges beyond the US mainland, reaching the Middle East, Australia and South America, according to Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defence and Security Forum. Shin said the exhibition appeared intended to highlight the achievements of the defence science programme, and he also described the impression it gave.
The exhibition appears intended to highlight the achievements of Kim's defence science development programme.
It gave the impression of propaganda aimed at gaining a strategic advantage ahead of potential a North Korea-US summit.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, sees the museum as an effort to make the weapons record permanent.
By turning what were once temporary weapons exhibitions into a permanent museum, Kim is institutionalising his military achievements and portraying North Korea's nuclear and missile buildup as a completed and enduring legacy.
The Hwasong-20 is reported to have a range of 15,000 km and to be designed to carry several nuclear warheads. No independent demonstration of the missile's performance has been carried out so far, and the museum's figures reflect the capabilities North Korea claims.
Trump and a possible summit
Trump told reporters on Monday, 12 October, that he may meet Kim during his planned trip to Asia. He is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China in mid-November, which is scheduled for Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November. Asked whether he would meet Kim on the trip, Trump replied:
I may, yeah. That'll be an exciting one... I get along with him
Pyongyang has not reciprocated Trump's overtures, and ties between the two countries have remained strained. Trump met Kim in 2018 and twice more before diplomacy collapsed in 2019. North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006, and in August Trump ordered a reduction of the joint US and South Korean summer drills that Pyongyang considers a threat.
Missile launches and mine blasts
KCNA said North Korea test-fired a tactical ballistic missile on Monday, 12 October, to confirm a technical upgrade of an unspecified key component, calling it an important step in improving all offensive weapons systems. South Korea's military said on Monday that North Korea had fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast. Reuters counts the launch as Pyongyang's fourth in a month, following Seoul's recent test of a hypersonic missile. Launches of this kind have increased compared with 2025. Separately, two mine explosions left three South Korean soldiers wounded, and Seoul accused Pyongyang of placing the explosives and demanded an apology.
- Kim attends the opening of the Defence Revolution Museum, according to KCNA
- KCNA reports a tactical ballistic missile test, while South Korea reports multiple ballistic missiles fired toward the sea
- KCNA publishes photographs of the museum and its Hwasong-20 display
- APEC leaders' summit in Shenzhen, China, scheduled for 18 and 19 November
